An earthquake recorded near Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory in 1988 is now considered Australia's largest ever, snatching the title from Western Australia.

Key points:

1941 WA quake slips from biggest to fifth biggest

Historic quake severity revised using new methods

No magnitude 7 quakes in Australia since records began in late 1800s

Geoscience Australia has revised the magnitudes of the country's biggest earthquakes as part of an international project using new technology to more accurately reflect their sizes.

Senior seismologist Spiro Spiliopoulos said the magnitude 6.6 earthquake, recorded south of Tennant Creek, was one of three in the area on the same day, with thousands of aftershocks felt throughout the Northern Territory.

"Under the current revision, the Tennant Creek earthquake from 1988 is now the largest earthquake in our historical database," Mr Spiliopoulos said.

"Previous to that the largest earthquake that we thought had occurred in Australia was one in Western Australia called the Meeberrie earthquake which had a magnitude of about 7.2 or 7.3 in 1941."

The data revision has seen the Meeberrie event downgraded from 7.2 to 6.3, which sees it slip from first to fifth on the list of severity.

"The shaking at Meeberrie homestead was very severe; all the walls of the homestead were cracked, several rainwater tanks burst, and widespread cracking of the ground occurred," Geoscience Australia said.

"Minor non-structural damage was reported in Perth more than 500 kilometres away from the epicentre."

The Tennant Creek series of three quakes in 1988 now come in at number one, four and seven on the list of severity.

Geoscience Australia said the country had not experienced a magnitude 7 earthquake since record keeping began in the late 1800s.

While there was evidence of earthquakes above magnitude 7 occurring in Australia over the past 100,000 years, Geoscience described them as "very rare and thousands of years apart".

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Nigel Skelton said he was working in the Tennant Creek library at the time the 1988 quake struck and said the noise was "terrifying".

"An elderly lady who regularly came in on Friday mornings had arrived at the door, as we opened the doors," Mr Skelton told the ABC.

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